Why does Cox San Diego use Fiber to the node and copper for to the premises (last mile connection is copper) vs Fiber To The Premises like other broadband providers?

AT&T upgraded our neighborhood to fiber so we have fiber to the premises now. AT&T's poor customer service and reliability plus"fiber" to the premises is actually fiber to an ONT (optical network terminal) then copper from the ONT to a modem like the 5268AC Gateway.

Define "premises."

Fiber to the demarc box mounted to the outside of the house, fiber from there to an ONT (optical network terminal) inside the house, then a short run of copper from the ONT to the AT&T modem/gateway, then copper or wi-fi to devices.. What I'd like to see in the future is elimination of the ONT and a direct fiber to modem connection (but those modems are being developed).

AT&T fiber to the outside of the house then to an ONT inside the house is definitely better than what they used to offer. But I'm not sure how it will compare to Cox's fiber to the node and last mile copper runs.

Okay.  I thought you lived in a multi-family building.

The "short run of copper from the ONT to the AT&T modem/gateway [inside the house]" is asinine.  Whoever has that setup should run fiber all the way into the living room.  They have an unnecessary hybrid connection.

You’re confused about ONT and DOCSIS.  What you’d actually like to see in the future is the elimination of your DOCSIS modem.  What you’d actually like to see in the future is an ONT in your living room.  You should have either an ONT or a DOCSIS…not both.

As far as ONT, I’d think an optical transceiver in the neighborhood node would be higher quality than a transceiver in a house.  The transceiver in the node would probably be Laser as opposed to LED in a house.  That is, of course, if you’re on a hybrid network.  Some of those household transceivers are cheesy.

If you were to compare the two, I don't believe you'd detect any improvement considering the distances and qualities.

Thanks.